Col. Sconce, Set Out to Destroy Zion's Camp, Trembles at the 'Almighty Power' Protecting It (1834)

“Col. Sconce, with two other leading men from Ray county, come to see us, desiring to know what our intentions were; for, said he, “I see that there is an almighty power that protects this people, for I started from Richmond, Ray county, with a company of armed men, having a full determination to destroy you, but was kept back by the storm, and was not able to reach you.” When he entered our camp he was seized with such a trembling that he was obliged to sit down to compose himself; and when he had made known his object of their visit; I arose, and addressing them, gave a relation of the sufferings of the saints in Jackson county, and also of our persecution generally, and what we had suffered by the mob in Missouri, and that we had come up to assist our brethren in Jackson, according to the commandment of God, and to assist them in restoring them to their lands; and that we had no intentions to molest or injure any people, but only to administer to the wants of our afflicted brethren, and to relieve them. When I had closed a conversation of some time, they arose and offered me their hands, and said they would use their influence to allay the excitement which every where prevailed against us.”

— Joseph Smith, History of the Church